Platform: Mac, Windows

All right class. Everyone take a seat on your meditation mats. Take a deep breath, and exhale. Good. Now, everyone in the lotus position. Excellent. Now, close your eyes, and envision your perfect gaming atmosphere. Something quiet, serene, free of the everyday problems of the real world. Do you see it? Does it look something like Pure Hidden? Then you are on the path to Nirvana. Good luck.

Pure Hidden is designed to be a hidden object game unlike any other. There is no story, no mystery to solve, no thinly-veiled plot designed to accommodate the endless locating of things that have nothing to do with the story, much less the surroundings. Pure Hidden takes a very zen-like approach to the hidden object genre. The games exist to be played, not to serve any external plot or characters. It makes the entire process of playing a relaxing, soothing experience.

You start out at the game tree, a large, leafy, vine-like plant that twists and turns about the screen. As the game progresses it sprouts leaves which slowly turn into blossoms. Blossoms "ripen" and produce games, the most prevalent of which is, of course, is the hidden object level. Locate the objects in the scene from the laundry list below. As you find items they drop off the list and new ones are added. You can't actually select an item unless it's showing in the list, and it's a good idea to remember where you found an item, as you'll likely be asked to find the same object later on. Collect all of the items or locate a purple list item to complete the round.

These seemingly random objects — rubber ducks, action figures, umbrellas — all relate (tangentially) to the next round. When you return to the game tree you'll notice one of the blossoms has turned into a game box. These boxes are filled with games to play, puzzles to solve, and toys to mess around with, such as popping bubbles to keep the on-screen music playing.

Analysis: Whoever thought up the idea for Pure Hidden was something of a genius, in my estimation. The hidden object genre has quickly become flooded with endless iterations of the same game. Whether they are mysteries that must be solved, or stories that are played through in a linear fashion, loosely tying the hidden object scenes together, eventually they all seem the same. Even when you are able to find the next Mystery Case Files from the hordes of wanna-bes, it's still a bit stale. It takes a truly well-designed game to stand out from the bunch, and Pure Hidden does that very well.

I love the fact that OUAT Entertainment has chosen something so organic as a plant to tie the game together. It doesn't seem like a gimmick to get around the lack of a plot, story, or characters. It's a plant that offers up games instead of apples or grapes. How cool is that? I want one for my yard!

The backgrounds for each of the hidden object games also play a part in making the entire process seem less of an oddity. The fact that there is more artistry than reality in each of the scenes makes finding a life preserver in an outdoor street cafe more of a silly game and less of a jarring break from real life. The backgrounds also become a thing of art themselves, for when you successfully finish each of the hidden object rounds, the background images become wallpapers that you can use on your computer, thus giving you more of a tangible prize for winning each round than a simple "Good Job!"

Of course, for the more competitive souls out there, there is a scored mode that you can play the game in instead of the more laid-back "zen" mode. In the scored mode, you will play against the clock to finish each of the games. The quicker you are, and the fewer hints you use, the greater your score will be. I, myself, prefer the simple serenity of the zen game, though. You still get to see how long it takes you to complete each game, but it really doesn't matter in the long run, does it? So long as you finish at some point. It's all just there, man.

This is one of those genre-busting games that developers need to take a serious look at. Pure Hidden has made the hidden object game fun for this reviewer again, and I believe that, with a little calm meditation and maybe a friendship rock or two, it will do the same for you.

36 Comments

I cant say a word against this. It has everything ! Most games of this ilk are pretty quick to lose their flavor, 10 or 20 mins in and its getting fairly stale, but this is tasty all the way though that was no way 80 mins surely!).

In some places you have to do like a 'magic eye' thing which brings a new layer of objects in to focus.

Sadly I only got the demo..due to lack of funds

It's my birthday on the 30th [cute hint dropping look]

Big pot of tea ....that went cold cos I was too engrossed and forgot to drink it! This is my game of the year

The "laundry list" that was mentioned that I saw on the bottom of the screenshot...I didn't have that. Seems maybe the game doesn't accommodate for widescreen and I didn't see any option for it. So basically I played the demo blind, which was VERY zen-like. I noticed that certain 'duds' I clicked on earlier could be grabbed later, so I knew there was an internal order going on. I kinda liked it that way. It seemed more...cerebral. When I got to the casino themed screen I noticed I could grab certain similar items like J's and 5's and $'s, etc.

I'm not sure if it would make the game better or not, but it seems to me that having the option of not having a laundry list should've been incorporated into the options.

This is fantastic -- and I normally don't care much at all for hidden-object games. I'm much more of a point-and-click adventure/puzzle game type. The latest Mystery Case Files finally brought both of the latter two elements into the picture enough to hold my interest, and I quite enjoyed it, but this feels even more refreshingly original. It's beautifully assembled, and I'll undoubtedly be springing for the full game once my demo time runs out.

One thing I noticed (not necessarily good, not necessarily bad) is that some of the objects are blended *so* well into the backgrounds that I truly could not tell what they were. Sometimes I would see something that looked "not quite right" and click on it with no luck, since the object in question wasn't yet on the laundry list. Later I'd click on it again and get a hit, then wish I could bring it back for a moment to verify that yes, that was in fact a typewriter. :) (Well, I suppose I could restart the whole level...)

Corona: I have a widescreen monitor and it displayed fine for me. You might want to mess with your video card scaling settings, see if you can't fix it. Otherwise you can always run it in windowed mode for the full picture. Even still, you seem to have stumbled upon a really nice game idea! I can see a HOG that's nothing but a screen of items with your only directive "find the stuff".

The screen shows 3 icons on the upper left, Exit, restart, and unsure of the 3rd. The bottom of the screen shows Bonus Surprise 01 and 3 dots. It looks like a loading screen. Then it just hangs there and you can't click on anything or move beyond the screen.

Like most people i just LOVE this game. (I'm half way through my second Zen journey!) Just a few tips to make your game more enjoyable, when you have cleared a level, wait for the "Bravo" as a few boxes have failed to shut first time round, as i was too eager and just hit 'back' to the main screen.
Also not mentioned in the review(?) is that you can create multiple profiles, so you can wonder though at your own pace.
It would also have been nice to have found, for example, 25 of 40 items on screen, as second time around it is the same items just in a different order. Not that i'm complaining...there are more than enough boxes to keep me happy...just a suggestion for the sequel.

This game was great! Beautiful and serene. I also love the fact that after I was done (though it doesn't tell you it's actually the end) you can go into gallery and download some of the pictures for your desktop. Wonderful.

OK...so I've read the walkthrough. I've finished the game or so I believe; but if I did it's totally anti-climactic. I've played in Zen Mode, played in Score Mode, but I am not seeing any "Bonus Surprise" anywhere. I downloaded the broken .swf file as suggested in the walkthrough and overrided the original one. Still nothing? Can somebody help me before I throw my computer out the window? Thanks, thanks, thanks if you can!!

The game does not have a real ending. You can go on playing and playing and playing :). There is no point in the game, saying: Congrats, you've made it.

About the bonus surprise: I never found it and I never downloaded the file. It wasn't mentioned in my walkthrough, a user told about it.
Reading this, for me it seems, that you have to open the box with the wind chimes again. Sorry to say, that I cannot tell you, what will happen then.

I believe I finished the game (to the garden shears) but when I go to the picture/portrait area where you can use the completed pictures as desktop, not all of my pictures are completed, which leads me to believe that I have not actually finished the game. Also, the game only took about 2 hours. Does that seem about the right amount of time to get through the game? I realize I can go back and play things over.

I had the same problem with the Bonus Surprise 01, but the fix given worked for me. Thank you! But now I'm stuck on the level where you click on letters of your keyboard to create a big vine/plant to reach the moon. I can get all the way up, but then I get the Bravo message and am returned back to the main screen where you choose the boxes, and all I can do is click on the same vine/plant box. Any fix for that? Or am I doing something wrong?

Heh I've never bought anything online before but I had to get this. It's a very unique and refreshing game (though not for my eyes, lol) and unlike the other hidden object games you don't know what to expect next. The music is simple, even sometimes like sound effects, and after a while it can start to sound a little creepy (but in a good way). The images are very beautiful too. The only thing I will say though is that (as abfdrumz also thought) sometimes I could just click on places that "does not look right" and get a lot of them right. But I suppose that's just me being lazy.

Can anyone recommend another hidden object game along these lines? Purely an object spotting game.

My two young children ( 5 and 3) absolutely loved this and they have completed it. I'd like to get them something very similar but don;t want one of the story-driven adventure type hidden object games.

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